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24th January 2008 Design an Epic Monster Competition!

Okay, for all you budding Epic Monster Designers, this ones for you.

Rules:

• ALL Designed Monsters must use D&D 3.5 rules.
• NO versions of Product Identity of other companies, no Godzilla, no Cthulhu, no Lady of Pain, no Galactus etc. At least it certainly shouldn't be obviously derived from well known sources, thats not to say you can't be inspired by such monsters.
• NO Advanced versions of existing monsters (100 HD Tarrasque), only original monsters if you please.
• MINIMUM Challenge Rating of 21 for individual monsters (though if you cannot be sure about the Challenge Rating don't worry - just eyeball it), though if you have seen my Epic Bestiary, certain monsters like Elementals or Golems have monsters of multiple sizes within the same entry so as long as one part of the monster entry is epic (CR 21+) I'll accept it.
• ENTER as many times as you want, each entry will be judged on its own merits.
• CLOSING date April 30th 2008 (I can remember that as its my birthday). That means you have 96 remaining days.
• POST your entries here, in this thread at the Eternity Publishing Forums on ENWorld.

Guidelines:

• There are a number of monster design guidelines in my Epic Bestiary, but you don't need to adhere to them...though it certainly wouldn't hurt if you did.
• There is no Hit Dice limit...but I don't really want to see anything over 999 Hit Dice unless the monster idea really, REALLY deserves it.
• Don't fret if you can't work out the Challenge Rating.
• You don't need to add Tactics or Adventure Ideas...but they are a neat touch.
• This is not an art contest, but if you want to illustrate your monster then that would be cool, but you won't get extra marks for it.

Prizes:

• The top 3 entries chosen (either by me or possibly by an eventual online poll - I haven't decided which yet), will end up in a future Immortals Handbook product. The designer of each winning entry will get full credit for the monster, a free copy of the pdf. a free copy of the print version (eventually) and the original art for the monster (as illustrated by me).
• At this point I am not sure what to do with all the non-winning entries, though it might be cool to put them in a free pdf, or maybe a relatively inexpensive pdf if we can get someone to illustrate them (at this juncture I don't know how many entries we will get so this is still up in the air somewhat) Regardless I won't do anything with the entry without the designers permission.

20th January 2008 Competition Winners Announced!

Long overdue, in part due to my own delays on Ascension is the winners to the art competition. While John Becaro's amazing Typhon art was already a winner in my eyes, the idea was always to use that as a two page spread somewhere in the book. But as for the Typhon entry illustration itself I think the entry by "Retinal Haze" fits best with my own illustration style, so thats my winner. Congratulations. Winners get their art and credit in the book as well as free copies.

But a big thanks to all those who entered the competition ("kingkostas", John Becaro, "Retinal Haze", "Aradin Magmaforge" and Mike Iffrig) all the pictures were superb, and an extra special thanks to Mike Iffrig for arranging the whole thing in the first place and for his unabashed enthusiasm for multi-headed dragons.

However, the next competition won't necessarily require you to be a talented artist, instead it will be one for all you budding epic monster designers. I'll announce details of that competition over the next few days.

20th September 2007 New Gods & Monsters Competition Entry!

I added a new entry to the Gods & Monsters competition (scroll down the page). This one is by Mike Iffrig. Apologies to Mike for taking so long to put up the entry (Mike emailed it to me almost a month ago), been a tad busy these past weeks.

5th July 2007 Added another entry!

I have added a 25% size version of John Becaro's competition entry (scroll down the page).

This entry is too big to use as the Typhon illustration in the book, but I may use it as a double page divider between the titular Gods & Monsters. So I am indirectly taking John's entry out of the Typhon competition itself, but at the same time using his work in the book - so he's already a winner.

4th July 2007 Gods & Monsters Competition Rescheduling!

I have extended the deadline to November. No point having it finish before I have Gods & Monsters ready.

I also received a new Typhon sketch from artist John Becaro which is so massive I don't think I can post it on the website in any legible form. Its got so much detail that even filling my computer screen I have to zoom in to see it. I'll probably have a special prize for John. You can see an early pencil sketch of John's if you scroll down - this represents a minute fraction of his final entry (less than 1% I estimate - so that gives you an idea of the scale) which is in black ink.

29th March 2007 Gods & Monsters Art Competition!

Okay my friend Mike Iffrig has this fascination with multi-headed dragons and has been on at me for ages to detail the hundred headed dragon Typhon in my books. So hes finally going to get his wish with Gods & Monsters. Hes also arranged a challenge to aspiring artists to come up with a version of Typhon just for fun...I think maybe he doesn't trust me on art duties. :-p Between us we decided to tie that in with Gods & Monsters and make a competition out of it. :+)

The rules are simple: Send in an illustration of Typhon, it can be black & white, colour and any medium you wish to use. The closing date for the competition is July 4th 2007.

Email entries to: agooddesigner@hotmail.com

Put "Typhon" in the email title, and be sure to include your name and age.

Depending on how many entrants we get and what age they are I'll probably have multiple prizes of Immortals Handbook related 'stuff'. The winner will also (if they want) get to have their art used in the Immortals Handbook: Gods & Monsters itself.

I already have three submissions for the contest, but Mike didn't give me a name to go with each one, as soon as I get those I'll upload the images.

I should stress there is no right or wrong 'version' of Typhon. There are multiple different descriptions of him in Greek mythology, so let your imagination run wild. Below are two such descriptions just to give you a starting point.

"a vast grisly monster with a hundred snakelike heads "with dark flickering tongues" flashing fire from their eyes and a din of voices and a hundred serpents issuing from his thighs."

"Typhoeus was so huge that his head was said to brush the stars. He appeared man-shaped down to the thighs, with two coiled vipers in place of legs. Attached to his hands in place of fingers were a hundred serpent heads, fifty per hand. He was winged, with dirty matted hair and beard, pointed ears, and eyes flashing fire. According to some he had two hundred hands each with fifty serpents for fingers and a hundred heads, one in human form with the rest being heads of bulls, boars, serpents, lions and leopards. As a volcano-daimon, Typhoeus hurled red-hot rocks at the sky and storms of fire boiled from his mouth."

Below Are the Entries So Far*

*I do have the names, but I am notsure which belongs to which as yet.

Entry #1 (by kingkostas)

Entry #2 (By John Becaro)

...first the preview sketch...

...then the final entry (the below image is 25% of the final size).

Entry #3 (by Retinal Haze)

Entry #4 (by Aradin Magmaforge)

Entry #5 (Mike Iffrig)